Lehlohonolo Seema, head coach of Sekhukhune United reacts during the DStv Premiership 2023/24 match against Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Tuesday. (Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix)
Sekhukhune United coach Lehlohonolo Seema praised his team’s brave fight in the 2-1 loss to Mamelodi Sundowns in an entertaining DStv Premiership encounter at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday.
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Babina Noko had a first half to forget after going two goals down in the opening eight minutes of the game but showed character after the break to pull one back.
In the end, Sekhukhune were made to rue the poor start to the match as the Brazilians held on to bag maximum points to extend their unbeaten run to 22 league games.
“If you start like that against Sundowns who are the champions, have been sitting on top of the log since day one and you don’t bring your A-game from the first minute then you’re bound to have a mountain to climb,” Seema said after the game.
“Credit must go to my players because when you are 2-0 down at Loftus against Sundowns, you’d think the game is done and dusted but the boys hung in there. You can check the stats of the first half because I think we were on top with everything but if you don’t take your chances then it becomes very difficult. Having said that, the players didn’t back down and we had to dig deep because we are a team that will fight until the last minute.
“It was the first time seeing Sundowns players wasting time like that and sitting down. Even the coach when players went down, he was calling them on the line to give them information and it’s one tactic that they must expect also on Friday against Esperance. I think they have shown them how it’s done and it’s one of those games that the sooner we forget about it the better.”
Sekhukhune went into the game with an unbeaten run of 10 league games but were brought down to earth. Seema believes his team should have at least earned a point from the game.
“I’m just disappointed that we lost a game that the worst result could have been a draw. I’m not undermining Sundowns and I will never do that because they are a team that have their own records but we came here and we didn’t respect them.
“We played the Sekhukhune way but we froze in the first seven minutes and made mistakes that I couldn’t understand what was happening. With the speed that they had, the Sundowns line-up was a masterstroke and they were spot on by changing it. You will always have a tough game with any Sundowns line-up but I’m just disappointed because I don’t think we deserved to lose this game and I don’t think Sundowns worked so hard to win this game,”
Sekhukhune United coach Lehlohonolo Seema praised his team’s brave fight in the 2-1 loss to Mamelodi Sundowns in an entertaining DStv Premiership encounter at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday.
Babina Noko had a first half to forget after going two goals down in the opening eight minutes of the game but showed character after the break to pull one back.
In the end, Sekhukhune were made to rue the poor start to the match as the Brazilians held on to bag maximum points to extend their unbeaten run to 22 league games.
“If you start like that against Sundowns who are the champions, have been sitting on top of the log since day one and you don’t bring your A-game from the first minute then you’re bound to have a mountain to climb,” Seema said after the game.
“Credit must go to my players because when you are 2-0 down at Loftus against Sundowns, you’d think the game is done and dusted but the boys hung in there. You can check the stats of the first half because I think we were on top with everything but if you don’t take your chances then it becomes very difficult. Having said that, the players didn’t back down and we had to dig deep because we are a team that will fight until the last minute.
“It was the first time seeing Sundowns players wasting time like that and sitting down. Even the coach when players went down, he was calling them on the line to give them information and it’s one tactic that they must expect also on Friday against Esperance. I think they have shown them how it’s done and it’s one of those games that the sooner we forget about it the better.”
Sekhukhune went into the game with an unbeaten run of 10 league games but were brought down to earth. Seema believes his team should have at least earned a point from the game.
“I’m just disappointed that we lost a game that the worst result could have been a draw. I’m not undermining Sundowns and I will never do that because they are a team that have their own records but we came here and we didn’t respect them.
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“We played the Sekhukhune way but we froze in the first seven minutes and made mistakes that I couldn’t understand what was happening. With the speed that they had, the Sundowns line-up was a masterstroke and they were spot on by changing it. You will always have a tough game with any Sundowns line-up but I’m just disappointed because I don’t think we deserved to lose this game and I don’t think Sundowns worked so hard to win this game,” he concluded.
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